A slight change from the norm this week, our other driver is on holiday and I've been given his work to do. Usually they just avoid containers if he's not about but with work getting thin on the ground I'm pressed into service.
Wednesday 28th May 2008
0645 Start. The worst part about this is driving someone elses motor, I've got none of my stuff and nothing is easily to hand. My kettle is missing and I'm cooped up in a day cab. That's enough moaning for now though.
I'm booked all day with a builder customer of ours, first job being to load out of Tiptree and I arrive at 0715. It's a tight little spot, a cluster of houses down a new close. I wait outside until 0730 and then wander in and start getting vans moved so I can get in. There's a 20' container to go, I can get closeish and get it hooked up but it's a bit heavy at full stick, so it needs a bit of cajoling to get it nearer so I can lift it properly and get it on board. Eventually I get there and head off to one of their big sites at Braintree where it's to be dropped in the compound.
It's PTO in and out the cab, and on the levers.
After unfolding the crane I align the hook roughly with the centre of the box.
Then it's up the rickety ladder on to the top of the box.
Snap the chains onto the hook
And it's going to go in that gap
Gently up
And squeeze into place.
Back on the top to unhook the container
These chains weigh a ton, they get carefully placed back with the crane.
And job done.
There's a couple of small machines to load, a 3t Yanmar and a skiploader.
These machines are taken back to Tiptree where I get the pleasure of loading another container (only a 10 footer) a fuel bowser and some sleepers
These are then taken back to Braintree and offloaded, but I'm not done there yet. There's a load of blocks to go on, luckily these are forked on by their driver who is shit hot and before long I'm off out of the site. It's now lunchtime so I find a nice quiet spot for some uncomfortable lunchtime day cabbed break.
The blocks are tipped off in Chelmsford and I return to the yard empty. After sorting out tomorrow's workload (Another box) I head off to Truck East at Witham to drop the truck in for overnight service. I'm given a brand new '08 plate 100 miles on the clock Fiesta courtesy car and get the honour of getting it caked in mud inside from my dirty boots. Finished 1615.
Wednesday 28th May 2008
0645 Start. The worst part about this is driving someone elses motor, I've got none of my stuff and nothing is easily to hand. My kettle is missing and I'm cooped up in a day cab. That's enough moaning for now though.
I'm booked all day with a builder customer of ours, first job being to load out of Tiptree and I arrive at 0715. It's a tight little spot, a cluster of houses down a new close. I wait outside until 0730 and then wander in and start getting vans moved so I can get in. There's a 20' container to go, I can get closeish and get it hooked up but it's a bit heavy at full stick, so it needs a bit of cajoling to get it nearer so I can lift it properly and get it on board. Eventually I get there and head off to one of their big sites at Braintree where it's to be dropped in the compound.
It's PTO in and out the cab, and on the levers.
After unfolding the crane I align the hook roughly with the centre of the box.
Then it's up the rickety ladder on to the top of the box.
Snap the chains onto the hook
And it's going to go in that gap
Gently up
And squeeze into place.
Back on the top to unhook the container
These chains weigh a ton, they get carefully placed back with the crane.
And job done.
There's a couple of small machines to load, a 3t Yanmar and a skiploader.
These machines are taken back to Tiptree where I get the pleasure of loading another container (only a 10 footer) a fuel bowser and some sleepers
These are then taken back to Braintree and offloaded, but I'm not done there yet. There's a load of blocks to go on, luckily these are forked on by their driver who is shit hot and before long I'm off out of the site. It's now lunchtime so I find a nice quiet spot for some uncomfortable lunchtime day cabbed break.
The blocks are tipped off in Chelmsford and I return to the yard empty. After sorting out tomorrow's workload (Another box) I head off to Truck East at Witham to drop the truck in for overnight service. I'm given a brand new '08 plate 100 miles on the clock Fiesta courtesy car and get the honour of getting it caked in mud inside from my dirty boots. Finished 1615.
Thursday 29th May 2008
0645 Start. It's a quick run over to Witham this morning to drop off the Fiesta and collect the truck from it's overnighter.
There's a warning tag attached to the gearstick "This vehicle needs to be topped up with oil"
Now bearing in mind that they are supposed to have inspected / serviced it why haven't they done it? It's not as if I've got any handy. A check on the dipstick and it's in the middle anyway.
It's a short run across to Maldon to load a container from an electrical distributors yard, they're open at 0700 so I'm able to get straight in and get it lifted.
It's a old one that has had it's day, I'm headed back to D&P Metals at Witham so it can be scrapped.
Once I'm here I discover to my horror that there's no paperwork as it's a free disposal, had I known I could have weighed it in and trousered about £200.
I slunk away off to Bradwell Aggregates quarry near Braintree where I'm loading 8t of sand for a groundworker. It's quickly forked on but the health & safety gestapo won't let you climb on the back of the wagon to strap on, so I leave it unstrapped and use their layby on the haul road to break as many of the H&S rules as possible.
I'm dragging the sand down to Southend, this is another weird job as it'd surely be cheaper to pay a builers merchant a bit more for the sand and save 3 hours on the haulage. Still it's all work. There's a forklift here so the crane stays put.
I'm still on hire to the same company so I head off back to Tiptree to collect a dumper from their farm. After a hunt around to find someone who knows where the keys are, it gets loaded up thde front and I trundle off around to their yard to load a 4.5t Kobelco.
Once I'm all loaded up I head back down to Southend stopping for another uncomfortable break on the way. It's a quick tip in Southend and I make a quick exit along the A127 to Basildon where I'm loading 3 tipping skips at Langdon Hills ready to deliver tomorrow.
Back to the yard and I'm done by 1645.
Back to the yard and I'm done by 1645.
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